A new study is being published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. This study purports to show that some psychic phenomena might, in fact, be real. The experiment dealt with an effect called priming. Here's how it works:

I sit subjects down in front of a computer. I tell them they'll see a series of pictures and they need to categorize each one as positive or negative as quickly as they can. Press this button if you think it's a positive thing and this other button if you think it's a negative thing, I guess.

If I flash a word on the screen before I show them the picture—the word is flashed so quickly they might not even be aware of what word it is—that can prime them to categorize the picture more quickly. So, when subjects see the word "happy," say, on the screen and are then shown a picture of a kitten, they categorize the kitten picture as positive more quickly than subjects who see the kitten picture without having seen the "priming" word. (And if I "prime" you with a "negative" word, it'll take you longer to decide the kitten belongs in the positive category.)

Here's where it gets freaky.

In this new study, this guy from Cornell says that subjects can be primed—and make their category decisions more quickly—if they see a priming word after they make their category decision. You will categorize the kitten picture as positive more quickly, he says, if you subsequently were shown a "positive" word. Your decision appears to have been influenced by something that was going to happen.

My mind is all itchy now and wants to throw up a little.

Several caveats:* I haven't read the study and would probably have nothing interesting to add even if I had.* The study has not been replicated. (Yet?)* The study has not yet been scrutinized by the scientific community at large.* The reported effect is supposedly consistent, but very small.* I have no idea what to make of this.

maybe they're just categorizing them faster because they aren't being distracted by the pre-image primer. even if it's only there for a small fraction of a second, it's still something your brain has to process before you can move on to the kitten. and because kittens are pretty universally perceived as positive, i'd give this more credit if they could prove that after-the-fact "priming" was taking place when they flashed a negative word after the positive image.

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq

maybe they're just categorizing them faster because they aren't being distracted by the pre-image primer. even if it's only there for a small fraction of a second, it's still something your brain has to process before you can move on to the kitten. and because kittens are pretty universally perceived as positive, i'd give this more credit if they could prove that after-the-fact "priming" was taking place when they flashed a negative word after the positive image.

I didn't read the article, but from what you're describing, I was a research assistant for a Cognitive Psychologist who did experiments very similar to this. Priming was involved and pictures were flashed across the computer screen... it was interesting work. I'm going to show her this and see what she says! Thanks, FF!

maybe they're just categorizing them faster because they aren't being distracted by the pre-image primer. even if it's only there for a small fraction of a second, it's still something your brain has to process before you can move on to the kitten.

I'm assuming they also ran the group through some images with no words at all though.

Read the comments, Face. For once. There are some good points that are brought up.

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_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

I would think that images, the pic and the word, could be flashed quickly enough that your brain would process them pretty much simultaneously, faster than your reaction time to hit a button anyway. Just a theory.